Now that I’ve gone through the story and made quite a few changes, it’s time to look at the story

…

Jack had heard there were moments where, in a split second, your whole life flashed before your eyes.  His life up to that moment did, and what he saw he didn’t like.

But nor was he very happy about the fact he was nearly out the door before the policewoman on the other side crashed into him and sent both of them sprawling to the floor, and back into the path of danger.

That was about the same fraction of a second he heard the gun go off, twice, or so he thought and knew he was a dead man, waiting for the bullet.  A life-defining fraction of a second.

Another fraction of a second passed as the policewoman tried to unravel the mess they’d become, and in that moment in time he felt a tugging at his sleeve and then, as if in slow motion, the sound of the glass door disintegrating behind him.

What may have been milliseconds in reality seemed like half a lifetime in his mind.  That he was still alive at the end of it was, he thought, a sign.

…

© Charles Heath 2016-2024